Whatever occurs from now until his college basketball career ends, and you can see that coming in the distance, Memphis guard Joe Jackson always will have this moment.

It will be in there with a couple of David Vaughn put-backs to get the Tigers to the Sweet 16, Penny Hardaway’s over-the-shoulder pass while seated on the floor against Marquette, with Andre Turner’s buzzer-beater against Boston College and with any number of Derrick Rose shake-and-bake maneuvers from the 2008 NCAA Tournament. People will talk about the night that little Joe, their Joe, celebrated his 22nd birthday by jumping from where he stands (6-1, allegedly) to where Przemek Karnowski stands (7-1, no doubt) and snuffed the Gonzaga big guy’s attempt to dunk from in front of the goal.

Joe Jackson (AP Photo)

No. 23 Gonzaga led their non-conference game Saturday by 11 points at the time Jackson blocked that dunk. The No. 24 Tigers (18-5) gave up only 12 points and scored 29 in the nearly 14 minutes that remained and won, 60-54. It was the 100th victory in the careers of Jackson, guard Chris Crawford and walk-on Trey Draper.

“Joe’s block in the second half was the biggest play in the game from a confidence standpoint. It gave us the will to finish out the game,” Crawford said. “I always joke around with Joe about his height, but I think he showed us all something special with that play. Plays like that, show you how tough Joe Jackson can be.”

Jackson went to White Station High, just a few miles from the Memphis campus, and there he earned McDonald’s All-American honors by scoring 3,451 points, the second-best total in county history behind the legendary Bingo Smith (and ahead of Hardaway, Elliot Perry, Cedric Henderson and one or two others who could play).

Although he led Memphis to a Conference USA Tournament title as a freshman with a stirring performance in a road win at UTEP in the final game, his early career was a hot mess of pressure and expectation, much of which he placed upon himself. He nearly left the program midway through his sophomore year. But after meeting with Pastner and hearing what needed to be said, Jackson stayed. He now has a University of Memphis degree, three NCAA Tournament appearances on the way to four and 1,531 career points that place him 10th on the school’s career list with a legit shot at No. 6 Henderson, who has 1,697.

Jackson told Sporting News last year it would have been easier to go elsewhere, somewhere people didn’t expect him to be the guy who scored at will in high school. He eventually discovered, though, it would not have been better.

“It was just frustration. I was just a child trying to get out of the struggle,” Jackson said. “I didn’t leave. I stayed. Sometimes I look back on that and wish I’d never have done it, because it makes you look like you’re a crybaby or something like that. But it’s not even that.

“I tried to rush into the process, but you can’t rush into it. I’m trying to be great. I’m not trying to be just a mediocre ballplayer. So it’ll stress you out.”

There is more to come for Jackson, and perhaps bigger victories still. It’s hard to imagine he’ll ever producer a bigger moment, though. For an instant, he was 7 feet tall.